Pomegranate juice and propolis (bee glue) can significantly improve heart health, according to new research.

Indeed, a study by African scientists showed that a combination of the two can indeed reduce the risk of heart attacks.

The researchers made use of rats that they divided into six groups. The first group served as the negative control group, while the rest were injected with isoproterenol, a “well-known cardio-toxic agent,” over the course of three days.

Following this, the rats from the third to sixth groups were given fresh pomegranate juice (group 3), propolis extract (group 4), fresh pomegranate juice and propolis extract (group 5), or glyceronitrate, a heart failure medication (group 6) for 30 days. The investigative team then collected blood samples from the rats at the conclusion of the experiment period.

All the rats who had been administered isoproterenol demonstrated an increase in the activities of the enzymes aspartate transaminase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), and cardiac troponin I (CnI).

This was noted as being indicative of heart muscle damage, as it allowed the enzymes to seep into the serum. Across all the rat groups who’d been given pomegranate juice and/or propolis extract, the researchers found no notable differences in the AST and LDH levels when compared with the group that wasn’t treated.

However, there were marked improvements in CK and CnI levels, though these were more apparent in the rats who’d received both pomegranate juice and propolis extract.

The researchers believe this to be the result of antioxidant activity. Propolis, in particular, is known to contain over 300 active constituents that include flavonoids, phenolic acids, and amino acids. This amalgamation of beneficial substances has led to propolis gaining a reputation for being “anti-tumor, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-cancer and immune-stimulant.”

The researchers have concluded that both pomegranate juice and propolis reduced the oxidative stress that would have otherwise increased the risk of heart attack among the rats. Thus, the researchers concluded their study by recommending propolis and pomegranate juice to help decrease the chances of heart attacks.

We have all made bad choices at some point in our lives. But for some of us, those choices have the ability to completely destroy our lives. Drug addiction is one such choice. Becoming hooked to drugs is bad news for anybody that adopts that habit. The good news is that it is possible to change. For one man in[Read More…]

A third of planets outside of our solar system could potentially host alien life, according to researchers from Harvard University. Scientists say that any ‘exoplanet’ that is two to four times the size of Earth is likely to contain water and essential elements that could host alien life. Analysis of data from the exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope and the Gaia[Read More…]

The government is considering plans to investigate families which home-school their children in the UK. A review is currently being launched by Nicky Morgan after education officials claimed that many parents who homeschool their kids could potentially be “poisoning their minds” with extremist and terrorist ideologies. The government is currently using terrorism as a reason to monitor on parents who[Read More…]